August 30, 2007

If you need an inspiring story or morale boost, or know someone in need of either, here’s a doozy. The 9 August issue of New England Journal of Medicine tells the story of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, assistant professor of neurosurgery and oncology and director of the brain-tumor stem-cell laboratory at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine… Read More

The new "Report on Racism and Xenophobia in the Member States of the EU," presented to the European Parliament by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) last Monday, shows that Europe still has much to do to guarantee a fair and equal treatment to all. The report was not specific to scientists in… Read More

August 29, 2007

Some early-career scientists in the U.S. have been suggesting since the early ’90s (if not before) that graduate schools should limit admissions to improve the job prospects of advanced-degree graduates. Now that’s exactly what’s happening…in China. The situation there, however, is quite different from the one in the United… Read More

Over the last few months I’ve been playing around with Pandora, the online music server that uses a record of what you like and don’t like to recommend new music, using what it calls a "musical genomics" approach. My experience has been mixed; I don’t love everything Pandora recommends based on my established tastes. Rec… Read More

August 28, 2007

Much of the talk about increasing interest in science or technology among students has focused on the economic factors, such as numbers of good job opportunities for graduates. A recent article in The American, a contrarian Web-based publication, reports on research done by Microsoft that suggests for computer science at least, money may not be… Read More

August 24, 2007

This is the time of year faculty and postdocs with new jobs move to new offices, and when students return from summer break. As a result, it is also the time many thefts occur as doors are left unlocked and boxes are stacked, even for short periods, on sidewalks. A favorite target of thieves is… Read More

August 23, 2007

Yesterday, the European Commission released some findings from its Mobility of Researchers and Career Development Implementation Report 2006. The report, soon to be published in full on the EC´s Web site, measures how well existing EC initiatives have supported the mobility of the European scientific workforce and helped make research careers more… Read More

August 22, 2007

Do you feel overwhelmed or distracted by the number of e-mails you receive each day? Or do you value e-mail as essential in nurturing and extending your network of research collaborators? Or both? An article published today in the French national newspaper Le Monde may spur you to assess how wisely you manage your flow… Read More

A new report and data resource from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) confirms what people seeking life-science careers have long suspected: It’s getting harder. The FASEB data, presented in a summary document (PDF format) and as a downloadable Powerpoint presentation (switch your Powerpoint View to ‘ Read More

Medicinal chemist Derek Lowe over at In the Pipeline recently posted some tips on interview seminars. "… [M]any of these are things that high school speech teachers have been telling their students for decades," he writes, "but you know, there’s only so much new information in this world." Of course, you’ve had… Read More